Short Introduction to JIAC V
JIAC, Version 5.1.5
August, 2015
21. August 2015
Useful Resources
These Slides
 Short overview: What is JIAC? What can it do?
 Basic JIAC concepts, tools, etc.
► JIAC Website: http://www.jiac.de/agent-frameworks/jiac-v/
 Manual with detailed examples and tutorials
 Developer Documentation
 Papers and Publications
 Download JIAC and tools
► Questions & Answers: http://www.jiac.de/qa
 Frequently (and infrequently) asked questions
 Whatever else you need to know (just ask!)
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JIAC basics
easy creation of complex, scalable distributed systems
► easily accessible for developers familiar with Java
► integration of agents and service-oriented architecture
► abstraction from underlying network architecture
► transparent communication across the network
► many extensions for: migration, persistence, encryption,
reactive behavior, service matching, load balancing, …
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JIAC basics (cont.)
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built on and around proven standards
 core configuration: Java 6/7, Spring, Maven
 communication: ActiveMQ, JMS
 semantics: OWL, OWL-S, SWRL
 interfaces: JMX, REST, Webservices
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JIAC architecture
agents distributed over several nodes (one node per JVM)
► communication via messages and actions / services
► agents composed of different agent beans
 agents have lifecycle, execution-cycle, memory
 beans provide actions, lifecycle-callback methods, listeners
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JIAC architecture (cont.)
Platform
 implicitly formed by all nodes that can communicate with
each other; no single point of failure
► Nodes
 JIAC-runtime (JVM) with some infrastructure (directory
services, security, webserver, etc.)
► Agents
 executed in individual threads; more infrastructure: lifecycle,
tuple-space based memory, communication address, etc.
► Beans
 provide some general functionality (communication) and
most of application-specific behavior
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JIAC Behaviors: AgentBeans and more
AgentBeans: application-specific modules for JIAC agents
► different mechanisms for specifying behaviors
 expose methods as “actions” (invoked by other agents)
 attach observers to agent’s memory (e.g. for messages)
 implement lifecycle-methods (doStart, doStop, etc.)
 implement execute-method (executed in regular intervals)
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additional/alternative mechanisms
 reactive behavior with Drools rules
 dynamic services with JADL++ scripts
 business process execution with BPMN
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JIAC tools
JIAC is Java-based – just use your Java development stack
 JIAC development in Eclipse or IntelliJ or whatever you like
 project and dependency management with Maven
► JIAC-specific Eclipse plugins: ‘Toolipse’
 JIAC-specific new-project-wizard
 integration with running JIAC platforms: service-search and
import, testing and deployment
 visual editor for agent configurations (AWE)
 BPMN-based business process modelling (VSDT)
 editors and tools for JADL++ scripts
► runtime monitoring: ASGARD agent viewer
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Getting started with JIAC
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go to www.jiac.de and download the manual
follow the steps to set up a new JIAC project; Maven will
automatically load the JIAC libraries and dependencies
create the “Hello World” and “Ping-Pong” examples
experiment with different ways to expose and invoke actions,
and different life-cycle methods
for the start, try to stick with basic Java and XML tools until
you are comfortable with how things work
if you have problems or questions, go to www.jiac.de/qa
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